REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers
Date: 2022-07-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, consumer information, delegated legislation, delegated regulation, food safety, foodstuff, foodstuffs legislation, labelling, transfer of competence

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.7.2022  COM(2022) 326 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to 
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers 

1. Introduction 

This report meets the obligation set for the Commission by Article 51(2) of Regulation (EU) 
No  1169/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  25  October  2011  on  the 
provision of food information to consumers (hereinafter 'the Food Information Regulation')1. 
The  Food  Information  Regulation  establishes  the  general  principles,  requirements  and 
responsibilities governing food information, and in particular food labelling. The provision of 
food information has to pursue a high level of protection of consumers’ health and interests by 
providing a basis for final consumers to make informed choices and to make safe use of food, 
with particular regard to health, economic, environmental, social and ethical considerations.  

Article  51(2)  of  the  Food  Information  Regulation  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt 
delegated acts on the subject matters referred to in the following provisions:  

-  Article  9(3):  the  Commission  may  establish  the  criteria  subject  to  which  one  or  more 
mandatory  particulars  may  be  expressed  by  pictograms  or  symbols  instead  of  words  or 
numbers in order to ensure that consumers benefit from other means of expression. In this 
context, the same level of information as with words and numbers has to be ensured and 
the evidence of uniform consumer understanding has be taken into account. 

-  Article  10(2):  the  Commission  may  amend  Annex  III,  which  lays  down  additional 
mandatory  particulars  for  specific  types  or  categories  of  foods,  in  order  to  ensure 
consumer  information  with  respect  to  those  foods  and  to  take  account  of  technical 
progress, scientific developments, the protection of consumers’ health or the safe use of a 
food.  

-  Article 12(3): when better adapted for certain mandatory particulars, the Commission may 
establish  criteria  subject  to  which  certain  mandatory  particulars  may  be  expressed  by 
means  other  than  on  the  package  or  on  the  label.  In  those  cases,  the  same  level  of 
information  to  consumers  must  be  ensured,  taking  into  account  evidence  of  uniform 
consumer understanding and of the wide use of these means by consumers.  

-  Article 13(4): the Commission has to establish rules for legibility of mandatory particulars 
in order to attain the objectives of the Regulation. Without prejudice to Articles 16(1) and 
16(2), the Commission may  also  extend to  additional mandatory particulars, for specific 
types or categories of foods, the requirement that the name of the food, the net quantity of 
the food and, for beverages containing more than 1.2% by volume of alcohol, the  actual 
alcoholic strength by volume, appear in the same field of vision.    

-  Article 19(2): in exceptional cases, taking into account the relevance for the consumer of a 
list  of  ingredients  for  specific  types  or  categories  of  foods,  the  Commission  may 
supplement the list of foods that are not required to bear a list of ingredients, provided that 

1 

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the 
provision  of  food  information  to  consumers,  amending  Regulations  (EC)  No  1924/2006  and  (EC)  No 
1925/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  and  repealing  Commission  Directive 
87/250/EEC,  Council  Directive  90/496/EEC,  Commission  Directive  1999/10/EC,  Directive  2000/13/EC 
of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 18). 

 
 
                                                           
the  omissions  do  not  result  in  the  final  consumer  or  mass  caterers  being  inadequately 
informed.  

-  Article 21(2): the Commission has to re-examine and, where necessary, update the list of 
substances  or  products  causing  allergies  or  intolerances  of  Annex  II  to  ensure  better 
information for consumers and to take account of the most recent scientific progress and 
technical knowledge.  

-  Article 23(2): the Commission may establish, for certain specified foods, a manner for the 
expression of the net quantity other than in units of volume (litres, centilitres, millilitres) 
for  liquid  products  and  in  units  of  mass  (kilograms,  grams),  in  order  to  ensure  a  better 
understanding by the consumer of the food information on the labelling.  

-  Article 30(6): in order to take account of their relevance, the Commission may amend, by 
adding  or  removing  particulars,  the  lists  of  particulars  of  the  mandatory  nutrition 
declaration  that  can  supplement  it  (Article  30(2));  the  information  of  the  nutrition 
declaration  than  can  be  repeated  (Article  30(3));  the  content  of  the  voluntary  nutrition 
declaration  where  provided  on  alcoholic  beverages  with  less  than  1.2%  alcohol  (Article 
30(4));  and  the  content  of  the  voluntary  nutrition  declaration  where  provided  on  non- 
prepacked foods (Article 30(5)).  

-  Article 31(2): the Commission may adopt conversion factors for the vitamins and minerals 
which may be declared in the nutrition declaration, in order to calculate more precisely the 
content of such vitamins and minerals in foods.  

-  Article 36(4) :  where voluntary food information is  provided by food business operators 
on a divergent basis which might mislead or confuse the consumer, the Commission may 
provide for additional cases of provision of voluntary food information to the ones already 
referred to in Article 36(3), in order to ensure that consumers are appropriately informed.  
-  Article  46 :  without  prejudice  to  Article  10(2)  and  Article  21(2)  as  referred  to  above, 
relating  respectively  to  the  amendments  to  Annexes  III  and  II,  the  Commission  may 
amend  the  Annexes  to  take  into  account  technical  progress,  scientific  developments, 
consumers’ health, or consumers’ need for information. 

2. Legal basis 

Pursuant  to  Article 51(2) of the Food  Information Regulation, the power to  adopt  delegated 
acts under Article 9(3), Article 10(2), Article 12(3), Article 13(4), Article 18(5), Article 19(2), 
Article  21(2),  Article  23(2),  Article  30(6),  Article  31(2),  Article  36(4)  and  Article  46  was  
conferred  on  the  Commission  for  an  initial  period  of  5  years  after  12  December  2011.  The 
Commission had to present a report on the exercise of the delegation of power conferred by 
the Food Information Regulation not later than 9 months before the end of the 5-year period. 
The delegation of power is to be extended tacitly for periods of 5 years, unless the European 
Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than 3 months before the end of 
each period.   

The Commission adopted a first report on the exercise of the delegation of powers under the 
Food Information Regulation on 11 March 20162. That report described the activities carried 
out during the time period.  

2  

Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  exercise  of  the 
delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of 
food information to consumers. COM(2016) 138 final.  

 
 
 
                                                           
3. Exercise of the delegation 

During the period starting on 11 March 2016 to date, the Commission has not identified the 
need  to  make  use  of  any  of  the  delegated  powers  conferred  by  the  Food  Information 
Regulation.  While  all the delegated  powers conferred remain approriate,  the decision not to 
make use of them has been the result of a regular and sound assessment of the aspects covered 
by the delegations of power during the period at hand, based on the feedback gathered from 
national authorities, consumers and stakeholders and in the light of the experience gained in 
the implementation of the Food Information Regulation.  

In  particular,  Articles  13(1)  to  13(3)  of  the  Food  Information  Regulation  lay  down  the 
requirements  for  the  presentation  of  the  mandatory  particulars  so  they  are  easily  visible, 
clearly  legible  and,  where  appropriate,  indelible.  In  particular,  to  ensure  their  legibility, 
Articles 13(2) and 13(3) and Annex IV of the Regulation set minimum font size requirements 
taking into account the surface of the material. The ‘legibility’ as defined in Article 2(2) point 
(m) of the Food Information Regulation refers also to other aspects of the presentation, such 
as letter spacing, spacing between lines, stroke width, type colour, typeface, width-height ratio 
of the letters and contrast between the print and the background. In this context, Article 13(4) 
of  the  Regulation  mandates  the  Commission  to  set  additional  rules  for  the  legibility  of  the 
mandatory  particulars  to  attain  the  objectives  of  the  Regulation.  The  implementation  of 
Articles  13(1)  to  13(3)  of  the  Food  Information  Regulation  has  not  brought  until  now  any 
evidence that the existing rules would not be sufficient to guarantee the clear legibility of the 
mandatory  particulars.  Taking  account  of  the  overall  purpose  to  achieve  the  right  balance 
between the protection of consumers and the flexibility to allow a smooth conduct of business 
for food business operators, the Commission has not found it appropriate, during the period at 
hand, to implement the empowerment received to introduce additional requirements related to 
the legibility of the mandatory particulars.  

Furthermore, by virtue of Article 21(2) of the Food Information Regulation, the Commission 
has  to  re-examine  systematically  the  list  of  substances  or  products  causing  allergies  or 
intolerances  included  in  Annex  II.  In  the  light  of  that  permanent  assessement,  where 
necessary,  the  Commission  updates  the  list  in  order  to  ensure  better  information  for 
consumers and to take account of the most recent scientific progress and technical knowledge. 
In accordance with that provision, during the period at hand the Commission has monitored 
closely  the  situation  with  regards  to  substances  or  products  that  may  cause  allergies  or 
intolerances and has not gathered any evidence that would suggest that there is a need to take 
further step for a modification of Annex II to the Food Information Regulation.   

As the Commission report of 11 March 2016 on the exercise of the delegation conferred on 
the Commission announced, Article 18(5) of the Food Information Regulation was abolished 
on 1 January 2018.  

4. Conclusion 

Since 11 March 2016, the Commission has not exercised the delegated powers conferred to it 
under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. It invites the European Parliament and the Council to 
take note of this report.